JORDAN
26/5/01 to 10/6/01

It's that time again. I am fed up with diving in a pool because the water is too cold so off to
somewhere warm. The Alcazar Hotel in Aqaba was chosen because it was comparatively
cheap, did not charge single supplement at the time I went, had a PADI 5* centre on site
and I hadn't been there before. I was really looking forward to the holiday as I had been
made redundant 2 weeks previously and was a trifle miffed.

I flew with Royal Jordanian from Heathrow going over Austria, Hungary and Yugoslavia,
among others. The film was "Double Take" and the beef stew with ginger and plum sauce
was rather good. Landed at Amman airport a little late but arrived at Aqaba on time. The
hotel had allowed a late meal for us and the room was quite comfortable. As usual, I allowed
a day to rest before diving giving me time to rest from the journey and to sort out diving
without rushing. It turned out that I needed my doctor's statement to enable me to sign the
form allowing me to dive. It had to be from the doctor in England because they did not think
the Jordanian doctors were qualified enough. The reason that the "i"s have to be dotted and
the "t"s crossed is that the manager of the dive operation is held responsible for your safety
and if there is a problem he is jailed before questions are asked. This has something to do with
the tribal nature of the Arab world and so the moral is always take your medical statement.
I was lucky and Nick faxed a copy of my statement from Wittering. Thank goodness I had
allowed a day to sort diving out!!! The rest of the time I explored Aqaba looking for restaurants
and places of interest. It must be remembered that whilst out during the day exposure to the sun
must be strictly regulated and water should be carried all the time because of the heat.

Day two started with a dive briefing at 08:15, too early! I don't do early mornings but the dive
briefing covers both the morning and afternoon dives. After breakfast I got and wrote some of
the postcards before diving Abdullah Reef. This being my first dive in a new area I decided not
to take my camera; I did not want non-essential toys with me until I knew what the diving was
going to be like. My buddy for the dive was Erwan Boulvais, an instructor from Seastar, who
had the dubious honour of helping me to kit up in the water and ensuring I was all right as well
as another diver.All Jordanian diving is available from the shore and the drill is to kit up on the
beach close to the bus before walking to the shore for the entrance. I was spoiled in that the bus
driver, usually Abdul, carried my kit, with the weight pouches (I use a weight integrated system)
in place, into the sea. For this week my buddy (Erwan, Ian or Omar) helped me kit up as another
English guy, called John, needed more help than I did. The dive was to 20m, lasted 38 minutes
and had a visibility of 20m. I was impressed with the marine life, which included Lionfish, Scorpion
fish, a nudibranch and octopus. This was a great warm up dive and the beer at the beach club went
down well. The only "problem" I encountered was I nearly burned my foot when I put my wetsuit
boots on. The heat had warmed them up so perhaps I should dunk them first next time!!!

Yet another lazy morning, back to bed after the dive briefing!! Post and write postcards before
catching the afternoon bus to the beach club. All diving revolves round the beach club. You travel
from hotel to club, to site, to club (beer), to hotel (evening beer!). This dive was "The Ceader Pride"
an 80m long wreck to a depth of 30m although Open Water divers can reach the top of the wreck.
It houses a lot of new coral as well as fish life including Lionfish.



A Lionfish Under The Ceader Pride

This was my first dive on the "Ceader Pride"; I was to do 3 dives on this wreck! On the way out I
saw a seahorse and sticky sea urchins, which looked like discarded rope!! The other dive sites I
visited were Black Rock, Gorgone 1, Japanese Garden (this may have been the last dive at this site
due to a new marina being built), Kalli's Place, Oliver's Canyon and Saudi Border. During these
dives I saw a number of different species and had great fun.





Different Corals

Damn Good Driving!!

Watched By A Grey Moray

The last dives I made were on Saudi Border and Oliver's Canyon. Both were with Ian and the first
was my deepest, at 35m, and the second my longest, at 64 minutes! On the days I was not diving I
made a few trips out, namely to Petra and Wadi Rum. Petra was an amazing ancient town and the
engineering required to build it was outstanding. Mineral deposits could be seen on the walls of the
cave houses thus saving the decorator's bill! It was a long day and hot but well worth the visit; so
was jumping in the pool back at the hotel! Wadi Rum was also an excellent trip into the dessert.
The lack of sound was uncanny and the desert was beautiful. This, again, due to mineral deposits
and the rocks were formed into weird and wonderful shapes by sand erosion. We got to see the
desert sunset as well as having Arab tea with a Bedouin.

Part Of Wadi Rum

After 2 weeks it was time to fly back to Heathrow, major mistake!!
The trip was supposed to be non-stop but, in fact, stopped in Vienna.